Economic Espionage Act

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In an order dated April 20, 2017, New York’s Court of Appeals agreed to hear Sergey Aleynikov’s appeal of his conviction under an arcane New York criminal statute.

Aleynikov is a former Goldman Sachs computer programmer, arrested in July 2009 and accused of stealing computer source code from the bank.  Originally, a federal jury found him guilty of violating both the National Stolen Property Act and the Economic Espionage Act, but that verdict was overturned by the Second Circuit in April 2012 (after Aleynikov had been incarcerated for over a year).

More recently, Aleynikov also has been prosecuted at the…
Continue Reading Long Strange Trip Through Court System Continues in Goldman Code Theft Case

James P. Flynn
James P. Flynn

In the recent case of United States v. Nosal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit confirmed the applicability of both the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Economic Espionage Act as safeguards against theft of trade secrets by departed former employees.  Importantly, Nosal applied such laws to convict a former employee in a case involving domestic businesses and personnel without any alleged overseas connections.  Because of civil enforcement provisions in the CFAA itself and the recently enacted Defend Trade Secrets Act, Nosal represents a possible guide…
Continue Reading Criminal Enforcement Protects Trade Secrets Taken By Departed Employees

In what has become an annual rite, legislators from both sides of the aisle in the U.S. Congress again have proposed a bill seeking to create a private right of action allowing companies to assert civil trade secret misappropriation claims under federal law (which would supplement the existing patchwork of state law remedies).  As we have blogged previously, similar bills were introduced in 2013 and 2014, but despite some progress they were not enacted into law.

Like past legislative efforts, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2015 would amend the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (which allows prosecutors to…
Continue Reading Another Federal Trade Secret Protection Bill Introduced

A California legislator recently introduced two bills in Congress which, if passed, could have profound effects for companies seeking to pursue claims relating to trade secrets and confidential information – one bill would create a new private right of action under federal law for trade secret theft, while the other bill would appear to limit plaintiffs’ abilities to pursue existing remedies for computer fraud and abuse.
Continue Reading Congress Considers Companion Bills That Could Have Far Reaching Consequences For Companies Facing Trade Secret Theft And/Or Computer Fraud And Abuse

The Economic Espionage Act (“EEA”), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1831-39, gives companies another tool in the fight against misappropriation of trade secrets to “adopt a national scheme to protect U.S. proprietary economic information” and to combat the rising tide of espionage against and threats to corporate trade secrets. It criminalizes misappropriation of trade secrets.
Continue Reading A TOOL FOR FIGHTING ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE: Federal Law Criminalizes Misappropriation of Trade Secrets